NSW moves to let Mount Pleasant mine keep expanded output

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NSW moves on Mount Pleasant mine

Highlights

The NSW government introduced legislation to allow MACH Energy's Mount Pleasant mine to maintain expanded output of 16.5 million tonnes annually until 2032 after a High Court ruling invalidated its expansion approval.
The proposed law seeks to address legal uncertainty from court decisions requiring planning authorities to consider Scope 3 emissions when approving coal mine expansions.
Legal and environmental opponents criticize the intervention as undermining court processes and conflicting with climate policy, with the case returning to the NSW Land and Environment Court in December.

Proposed law targets production uncertainty

As reported by ABC News, the NSW government has introduced legislation to let MACH Energy's Mount Pleasant mine continue operating at expanded production rates after the company lost a High Court appeal in October over plans to increase extraction until 2048.

Premier Chris Minns says the bill is intended to address what he calls a "unique legal uncertainty" created by the judgement. He says the government remains committed to renewable energy and climate policy, but is intervening to protect jobs and support the state economy during a major energy market transition.

MACH Energy received approval for the expansion in 2022, but the project has been tied up in litigation since a NSW Court of Appeal ruling last year found the approval may have been invalid because planners did not consider emissions from coal burned overseas. The High Court then ruled in October that the expansion approval was invalid because authorities failed to assess those Scope 3 emissions.

Under the mine's original planning permit, annual extraction is capped at 12.5 million tonnes. The new bill would lift that to 16.5 million tonnes until 2032, matching the mine's current workforce and production profile, while the government says exported coal under the arrangement must go to countries that are signatories to the Paris Agreement.

Legal and political backlash builds

Critics say the measure cuts across the court process rather than resolving the underlying legal issues through existing channels. The case is due to return to the NSW Land and Environment Court in December, while debate on the bill in the lower house has been adjourned to a later date.

Legal experts and mine opponents have sharply criticised the intervention. Retired judge Anthony Whealy, now on the board of the Centre for Public Integrity, previously described the move as a dangerous precedent and an apparent attempt to go behind court processes.

Opponents also gathered on the steps of NSW parliament on Tuesday, including members of the Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group and actor Michael Caton. Campaigners argue the legislation undermines the rule of law and conflicts with longer-term climate goals as Australia faces pressure to reduce fossil fuel dependence.

Earlier, we reported that S&P Global Ratings warned geopolitical tensions and elevated fiscal spending are raising sovereign borrowing risks as funding costs stay high.

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